1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to desk or cabinet drawer guide mounting brackets and more particularly to a new and improved mounting bracket used in connection with a drawer guide having a tongue portion, the bracket having a base with opposing retaining flanges resiliently connected to the base to cooperatively receive the drawer guide tongue portion in snap-in engagement of the drawer guide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of mounting brackets for desk and cabinet drawers have been used in the furniture industry for many years. Generally, such brackets are not precisely designed or engineered to achieve stability, long wear or efficient operation. Such brackets have adjustable elements, usually formed directly in the bracket body, making the bracket difficult to adjust, insufficient to achieve drawer stability with respect to the desk or cabinet, and quick to deteriorate.
There is a current need to provide more precisely designed and manufactured mounting brackets which operate with greater efficiency and adjustability while retaining the costs associated with the design and manufacture of such devices within the same range as presently experienced with conventional brackets.
Moreover, while improved brackets of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,861 partially address this need, the usefulness of such brackets is limited in that they are designed to be attached to the tongue portion of the drawer guide before installing the bracket and drawer guide in the desk or cabinet. The design of such brackets makes it is necessary to slide the leading end of the tongue portion through an end opening of the bracket which is defined between top and bottom portions of the bracket, and at the same time to slide the tongue portion over a stop upstanding from the bracket base and spaced from the bracket end opening. If the bracket is installed in the desk or cabinet before attaching the drawer guide to the bracket, the confined space within the desk or cabinet makes it impractical, if not impossible, to attach the drawer guide tongue portion to the installed bracket.
The present invention addresses this need and provides a bracket which can be installed in a desk or cabinet for receiving the drawer guide tongue portion in snap-in engagement and which provides for either lateral adjustment of the drawer guide or fixed positioning of the drawer guide relative to the desk or cabinet.